New Jaws for Bench Vise Made From an Old File

[mklotz]

I don't know if that is sacrilege, or genius. I'll go for genius! I don't have any files large enough to do that to either of my large vises. I may have to give it a try with the Panavise and Wilton that's similar to a Panavise, and now I need to start looking for some larger files, too.

Are you really sure you want vise jaws that are brittle, very difficult to machine and leave marks in anything clamped?

I replaced the jaws on my vise with ordinary steel into which I had milled a variety of V-grooves, both horizontal and vertical. Putting vertical holes to accommodate pins allows clamping odd shapes as is done with jewelers' clamps.

A similar prismatic jaw for the Panavise removes the need to mount and dismount jaws for different jobs...

Prismatic jaw for Panavise